As I began to work on the Value Creation series, I thought that it should begin with an iconic person who epitomized the very spirit of proposition. So, I decided that an excellent place to start the series was with the entrepreneur Carlos Slim Helu' known by most simply as Carlos Slim.

The prolific growth and subsequent value creation of the companies launched Carlos Slim catapulted him to being named the world's richest man (surpassing Bill Gates) by Forbes (#1) in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013. This is an incredible feat as most people had believed surpassing Bill Gates in net worth to be a fantasy, it is all the more notable because Slim is from an developing country, Mexico. Slim although starting from very humble beginnings, began his investing career at the very early age of twelve. He initially made his first fortune in real estate, becoming a millionaire in his early 20's and has since created a net worth of over $73 billion dollars through his companies. Mr. Slim's holdings are diverse and encompass many facets of the economy ranging from securities, banking, insurance and real estate. However, he is the most dynamic in the telecommunications industry and his core holding is his telecom firm, America Movil SAB (AMXL) which operates in 18 countries, takes in revenues of over $59 billion and has over 150,000 employees.

The recent upswing in the telecommunications industry make it an excellent place to outline value creation as it has been a dominant generator of wealth and jobs.The telecom sector is on an all time high so an exploration of his philosophies are ideal. As a point of reference, the telecom sector was up last year over 21% and has a total market capitalization of over $93 billion. This week the FCC started an auction for the H Block spectrum which operates in the mobile broadband space. The capital markets believe the sector has tremendous upside as we saw the largest bond transaction in history completed as Verizon launched and closed a $50 billion bond deal last year. Slim sees more potential opportunities in telecom and for American Movil, he says it will invest over $9 billion over the next 4 years, citing greater speed and services for small business as the particular growth engines.

As a point of note, Dennis O'Brien, a fellow Forbes list (#233) billionaire and the wealthiest man in Ireland obviously sees the same opportunities. He recently decided to increase his telecommunications holdings in what he called a "massive" telecoms push. Mr. O'Brien owns Digicel, a Caribbean and Central American telecom group. Mr. O'Brien sees international markets and products as incredibly valuable due to "world order changing". Clearly, the telecommunications industry is where many are creating value and wealth, potential investors should take note and follow the trend.

When I initially I met with Carlos Slim, he was declared the richest person in the world with over $80B (that has since went down to only $73B), despite his immense wealth, the first most notable thing about the man was his extreme humility. Despite being a multi billionaire, Carlos resides in a relatively modest six-bedroom house, that is less than mile away from his office. He personally doesn't ascribe to the concept of conspicuous consumption and doesn't have a super yacht or multiple mansions around the world. He doesn't have a fleet of high performance, exotic cars and still prefers to actually drive by himself.

As I spoke with him he spoke in a gentle, patrician voice often pausing to allow me time to interject or ask questions. As we talked, it was apparent to me that this very proud Mexican man from a family of (6) six children, whose roots hailed from Lebanon epitomized the American dream of re-invention and value creation. So, I pressed him for what he thought contributed the most to his success and for a formula and set of rules that he lived by. The first thing he noted was that human capital was the best investment and that you should strive to educate and enlighten everyone around you. The following are Carlos Slim's 10 key tenets for success in business:

An additional key factor that Carlos Slim defined as critical to success was the control of negative thoughts. He outlined 1) being positive, 2) being present, 3) being contrarian and 4) fast action as key components of success. Please find (4) four of Carlos Slim's operating principles for success in his own words:

1. "Do not allow negative feelings and emotions to control your mind. Emotional harm does not come from others; it is conceived and developed within ourselves."

2. "Live the present intensely and fully, do not let the past be a burden, and let the future be an incentive. Each person forges his or her own destiny."

3. "When there is a crisis, that’s when some are interested in getting out and that’s when we are interested in getting in.

4. "When we decide to do something, we do it quickly."

As a testament to his philosophies it was recently announced that the billionaire was poised to double a $250 million investment from a lending agreement he made with the New York Times in 2009 during the height of the financial crisis—a time when most were frightened to invest and even more wouldn't have invested in old media. Carlos Slim's take on the investment? "Courage taught me no matter how bad a crisis gets… any sound investment will eventually pay off. In business, you invest when things are not in good shape. When you invest at these times, you take a better position than your competitors. When there is a recession and your competition does not invest, they are giving you the advantage."

Each person forges his or her own destiny. For all prospective entrepreneurs take these tenets and Believe in yourself.

After a thrilling career in investment banking and an exhaustive battle with regulatory officials—I decided that i needed a reset to define a new purpose and goal outside of investment banking. With over two decades of pursuing numbers and performance, I wanted to move from the empirical study of numbers beyond the balance sheets. I sought to the understand what drove the value creation by highly successful enterprises that have generated over billions of dollars in value and job creation.

The Japanese stock market continued to surge giving the Nikkei 225 index a gain of 56.7% for the year—outpacing all other major markets including the Dow Jones and the FTSE 100. The Nikkei's 2013 performance was its best year since 1972, in that year the market increased an incredible 92%.

The additional 0.7% gain on the last trading day made it the index's highest level in the last (6) six years, signaling a massive reversal of Japan Inc.'s fortunes. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe commented on the benchmark, leaving his vacation to ring the closing bell at the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Mr. Abe cited the historic highs as positive results from his administration's monetary policies dubbed "Abenomics"—the focus of these policies has been to create liquidity from loose monetary policy that will serve to power inflation in the real economy. Japan has had a 20 year period of stagnant growth and deflation. In his comments at the closing ceremony, Mr. Abe urged his countrymen to use the hundreds of thousands in bonuses provided by the performance to " keep it moving.."

Apparently foreign investors are encouraged by the policies, as approximately over $125 billion of overseas money was invested in Japan, the highest amount since 2005. This is what caused Nikkei 225 index to rise to 16,291.31 and outpace the Topix on the final trading day of the year. The much broader Topix closed up 0.95% up to 1,302.29 with an impressive 52% gain for the year. When the Nikkei gains faster than the Topix it is a sign that overseas investors are buying equities thematically as a bet that there will be a weakening currency and stronger stock market. This is called short yen/long stocks by traders, due to the smaller composition of stocks in the Nikkei (225 companies) foreign investors find it much easier to research and invest in the Nikkei Index. In contrast, the Topix which is composed of 1755 companies, is much more complex and creates a need for a deeper understanding of the country and companies.

Prime Minister Abe and his administration have sought to end a condition that the Japanese call "Cho Endaka"—which means ultra high yen. In one year, the Japanese currency has dropped approximately one fifth against the US dollar, this has created a tremendous boost for the export driven Japanese economy and is the result of cheap yen and rising stock prices. The close of the session saw dollar buying 105.35 yen, a dramatic increase from the 87 yen level at the end of 2012. Look for the Nikkei to be a source of volatility and a major focal point of the trading and investing community, as trading experts have called for a range of 18,000 to 20,000 in the Nikkei for 2014.

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The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has taken a radical new approach in debt restructuring to lessen the pain of austerity and is developing plans that impose initial losses on bondholders of European country bailouts. The general thesis behind the new plan is that the IMF made a mistake in causing some of the debtor countries (namely Greece and Portugal) to shoulder all of the pain in their recovery.

In the new proposals, the IMF is urging European governments to write down the loans to bailout countries in an effort to reduce the German induced austerity. The plan has received significant push back at the fund and from the United States Government—the largest financial contributor to the IMF. Many economists and financial market participants have scoffed at the idea and tagged it as a potential harbinger of doom for the feeble European credit markets.

As expected, Germany took the lead in opposing the new restructuring plans. There has also been a fair amount of dissenting views from within the organization by some of the organization's lawyers and economists. Due to the lack of agreement, don't expect a formal presentation until June of 2014.

The subject was a particular source of consternation at the 2013 IMF Fall meetings in D.C. The underlying reason being that the European countries have approximately $460 billion in loans to the bailed out countries versus the roughly $107 billion that the IMF has at stake. Further vexing other countries is that the IMF is a preferred creditor—so it's loans are paid back first, giving it the least risk. This has made some assert that the IMF doesn't want to pay private creditors such as hedge funds. This position harkens back to the former days of glory when the IMF was the lead and not a junior member of the bailout team, some have viewed it as a way for the IMF to assert dominance in the next bailout.

The proposal might have chilling affects in the future as the idea of countries not paying their creditors is very likely to spook the markets and it participants. The notion of attempting to stymie bondholder's rights is likely to reduce potential investors and decrease the likelihood of countries approaching the IMF because of potential stigma. Fixed income market participants should to pay rapt attention to these developments as private investors most definitely will.

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Born in Holdenville, Oklahoma in 1928 as Thomas Boone Pickens, Jr. but known through out the world as T. Boone. "Pick" is an American tycoon who rose to prominence by acquiring oil and gas companies throughout the 1980s. Before entering the oil business, Pickens attended Oklahoma A&M where he graduated with a degree in geology. Shortly thereafter, he began his career working at Phillips Petroleum. He stayed with Phillips until 1954, and in 1956 he founded his company Mesa Petroleum.

As the founder of Mesa Petroleum, Pickens spent the decade acquiring and attempting to takeover various oil and gas companies. His first major acquisition came in 1981, when Mesa, already one of the largest independent oil companies in the world, took over the Hugoton Production Company, a company 30 times the size of Mesa. After this successful acquisition, Pickens spent much of the 1980s attempting to acquire other oil and gas companies, including attempted buyouts of Cities Service, Gulf Oil, Phillips Petroleum, and Unocal. His more successful bids included the acquisitions of Pioneer Petroleum and Tenneco. While his bids were not always successful, he managed to make a significant amount of money from his takeover bids through his sale of stock. Near the turn of the century, Pickens eventually founded BP Capital Management, a hedge fund that invests in traditional energy and nuclear power companies, such as Halliburton. He owns a 46% interest in the company, which runs two hedge funds.

Most know the flamboyant oil man turned hedge fund manager for market calls and prognostications in energy. His latest venture is tied to energy but helps to invigorate America. In his latest venture Boone focuses on pushing the automotive industry forward with natural energy cars. Extensive value creation can be built in related areas that are tied to an industry that individuals have deep knowledge of and can then innovate.

Pickens has also taken an interest in politics and the environment. During the 1988 Presidential election, he briefly considered running. Since 1980 he has made over $5 million in contributions to various candidates and groups, including George W. Bush, Swift Vets and POWS for Truth, Progress for America, Rudy Giuliani, and 527 other Republican groups. He once famously offered a $1 million to anyone able to disprove the claims made in political ads by Swift Vets against then candidate John Kerry. One of the striking things you notice as you enter Boone's office is that he has pictures with every American President at the White House and at formal dinners.

Although his company deals primarily with traditional energy sources, Pickens is a proponent of alternative energy. He believes that the world’s oil production is on the decline, and thus champions the use of domestic natural gas and solar and wind power. In 2008 he proposed a major energy policy, the Pickens Plan. The plan called for a major reduction of dependency on foreign energy, the introduction of alternatives to oil, and the conversion of the nation’s commercial transport sector from OPEC diesel to natural gas.

When I met with Boone he outline three tenets he thought were necessary for success:

1. Drive Desire

2. Commitment

3. Play in a Big Game

He frequently donates to various charities and organizations, and has given away more than an estimated $700 million to charity, $500 million of which has gone to his alma mater, Oklahoma State University. He has also committed to The Giving Pledge. Today, Pickens holds an estimated net worth of $1.2 billion.

The Bank of England (BOE) held their interest rates steady at their record low 0.5%—as expected, marking the 58 consecutive month of continuing the rate. Policymakers also decided to maintain the 375 billion sterling quantitative easing measures however no accompanying statement was released.

Market participants are expecting the newly minted Central Bank Governor Mark Carney to change the forward guidance policy as conditions improve. An interest rate change would be used to accelerate the economy by improving the credit conditions in the country. This seems likely as consumer prices rose at the lowest levels in 48 months in the country, this is evidence of positive growth measures in Great Britain's economy and serve as a testament that it is on the upswing.

Governor Carney previously stated in August of 2013, that the Bank of England would reassess it's current policy when the unemployment rate reached 7% anticipating that it wouldn't be reached until 2016—however the rate has unexpectedly dropped off far sooner that the expected, making some economists speculate that a tightening policy might be implemented much sooner than was originally planned. Some market participants say don't expect a rate increase before the middle of 2015.

I believe that the likelihood of the BOE maintaining low rates throughout 2014 is very low given the falling unemployment rate. Bear in mind that the growth rate in 2013 was very close to 2%, If this trend continues, expect Governor Carney to raise interest rates sometime in 2014. Look for some indication of guidance next month when the Bank of England's quarterly inflation report is released.

As of late, it seems that finance has been under attack and demonized by various sources from the government to the media. As a finance person I might be admittedly biased in terms of the derision, but as a practical person I understand the need for modern finance and trading to make all components of the society work.

If people thoroughly don't believe this: eschew bank and credit cards and resort to paying cash for any and all of your transactions from your home, to your car and education—most people aren't in a position to do this, so we are enabled with additional mobility by modern finance.

Proselytizing aside, I see these grumblings as a form of protest because of the underlying issue: most people don't see how they can benefit in the broader economy outside of finance. I constantly receive a number of messages asking for ideas that don't require extensive knowledge of trading and capital markets because they don't see how they can participate in it. That is a false perception because the markets actually are a meritocracy and will lift those who are willing to take the risk.

With that being said, I wholly agree that the broader society needs to see upward mobility. Subsequently, I believe that there needs to be a focus on value creation along with the consequential creation of jobs, in which everyone can participate. I have been bombarded with questions on how can people outside of the confines of finance participate in the upswing in the markets. Most all of the questions start with, "I only have.."as they believe that since they do not have millions or tens of millions that they can't participate in what I outline. That isn't particularly true, but it is evidence of the need to define the methods of successful people in arenas other than finance.

To that extent, I decided to move beyond the study of numbers, prices and balance sheets to the thesis, plans and actions of a number of my clients along with the businesses that I follow. The Value Creation series will serve to interpolate how they extrapolate value in the broader economy from their companies. I have spent the greater part of my adult life in financial transactions, economic prognostication and securities analysis—so I will always be a trader in my heart— but after a long career, however, I believe that now is the time to explore value creation beyond the numbers in a intrinsic and involved fashion.The purpose will be as my business role model, Reginald F. Lewis stated "..to get behind the numbers.." and determine what moves and drives value.

In this critical period after the financial crisis, America is in grave need of new creators of value that will assist in generating new jobs.The greatest evidence of job creation through value creation is in the technology industry and can be seen in the wealth and jobs that are created on the west coast. We are constantly seeing examples of young undaunted college kids who create billions in value, by dint of will and effort and as a result build monolithic companies in relatively short periods.

This is the spirit that built America and it needs to be spread abroad.

In homage to that spirit, I will present the stories and methods of people such as Carlos Slim, Patrick Soon Shiong, T.Boone Pickens and others who have conspicuously and inconspicuously created billions of value in companies in sundry areas not directly tied to finance. It is my hope that these articles will inspire others, serve to ignite their passion, give them direction and help to motivate and move them to action.